One NY Islanders player who must get red-hot in the second half of 2024-25

Oh, the NY Islanders once again look like they have every intention of making 2024-25 interesting as much as they made 2023-24 interesting. This hockey team is nowhere near out of it, though, as they taught us last season that they can get hot at any time. 

So, if you’re part of the Isles faithful, then congrats because your team is never truly out of it until you see a lowercase ‘e’ next to their name. For new fans out there who don’t know what I’m talking about, ‘e’ means eliminated, and it’ll be a while before anyone has that next to their name. 

But if the Isles want to make 2024-25 exciting, especially during a pivotal second half, one player has got to step up. Guys like Anders Lee, Bo Horvat, and Simon Holmstrom have held up their respective ends of the bargain, but one player who needed to so far has not. 

If you guessed that player to be Brock Nelson, then congratulations again because he’s the subject of this short article. And it’s why you can’t blame fans who want to see him finishing the year in a different uniform. 

Brock Nelson needs to help the NY Islanders while he’s still in town

At this point, I can’t see the Isles trading Nelson, as he’s far too important of a chess piece for this team that isn’t even close to falling out of contention. And yeah, I know, I know, the Isles are somewhere in the league’s doldrums at the moment, but it’s not like the NHL trade deadline is tomorrow or even next week. 

So far, Nelson’s 10 goals and 21 points in 37 games is a big reason for the team’s struggles to find the net. The Isles are one of just a handful of teams that has yet to score 100 goals this season as of Monday afternoon, and if Nelson decided to play better hockey like he did across the first 23 games this season, that likely wouldn’t be the case. 

All of that said, I can’t help but think that if Nelson picks up his game some, or a lot, that the Isles could be okay. Yeah, the likes of Holmstrom, Lee, and Horvat need to keep playing as they’ve been, and Ilya Sorokin must pick up his production in the net better than he has been. But if Nelson returned to form, the Isles would at least threaten to become a relevant team again. 

He’s been putting some big numbers up over the last three seasons, and he even looked good earlier in the year. That said, this could just be a slump and nothing more. But time is also working against the Isles and, by extension, Nelson, so there needs to be a sense of urgency.